


Mending

by belizafryler



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-23 02:53:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13180863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/belizafryler/pseuds/belizafryler
Summary: When the Author got rid of Rumple's darkness, he woke up with a pure heart, but he was also very weak and Belle has to take care of him while they mend something a bit more special: their relationship.





	Mending

**Author's Note:**

  * For [katillac25](https://archiveofourown.org/users/katillac25/gifts).



_The gold in her dress was distracting. Very distracting. It sparkled whenever she leaned this way or that, and he absolutely did not need to be paying attention to this right now. He was trying to take part in a deal. But they were not offering anything special, or even anything realistic. So he did what the man thought was his only possible decision._

_He told them the price was her. The girl in a golden dress._

_That had not gone over well for fiance nor father. But to his surprise, the girl had accepted his conditions. The deal was struck.  
_

*~* 

Flash forward.

She was gorgeous. Her brown hair was somehow not worse off for having been working all day. Her eyes were impossibly blue. Her lips were close enough to touch, and…. That was not a good place to be. He needed to stop that train of thought.

How could he have only realised how much he cared as she was in his arms, staring at him like he couldn’t be real? He had a sinking suspicion that he was staring at her in much the same way. And then he dropped her back onto her feet.

She’d thanked him for saving her. “No matter.” he’d lied quickly. But if the man were honest, Rumplestiltskin would have had to thank her for saving him. Not the other way around.

*~* 

Rumplestiltskin’s head hurt. He had to open his eyes, but that sounded more painful if it was as bright as it felt. He was warm to the core. He heard his name, distantly, being repeated over and over in something of a chant. He recognised the voice. It belonged to the girl with the golden dress, the girl he…. Loved. It was Belle, but why was she chanting his name?

He tried to open his eyes. “Easy.” He heard, in the softest, most incredulous voice he’d ever heard Belle use.

“Belle,” He mumbled. He hoped she’d heard him. He blinked his eyes open, and there she was. She was as gorgeous as she’d been in the golden dress. His eyes shut of their own accord at the brightness of the room. “Bright.”

“Of course,” he heard her whispered voice. He had just registered her hand leaving his when it was back, and the room seemed to be darker. He opened his eyes again.

“How do you feel?” Belle asked as his eyes adjusted.

“Hmmm…. Tired. What happened exactly?” Rumplestiltskin asked, looking at her, taking her in as if she’d slip away from him if he took his eyes off of her. Her outfit was wrinkled, no… she’d changed since he last saw her. Since he… was he dead? “Am I.. is this the afterlife’s idea of a cruel joke?” he demanded.

“What? No.” Belle answered, the picture of confusion. “No, Rum… you uh, you passed out. And then in order to bring you back to-- in order to bring you back, the Author took away the darkness. No more Dark One in you than there is in me.” Belle explained quietly, as if she was nervous for his reaction.

“Who took it on?” Rumple asked tiredly, letting go of her hand to rub his hands over his eyes. He didn’t comment on this, but he’d noticed how close she’d come to saying that she’d wanted him to come back to her. The fact that she had stopped sent pinpricks into his heart, even knowing that he had never deserved her.

“Emma, I think.” Belle nodded, pulling her hand back into her lap and looking down at it instead of at him. “Are you feeling okay?” she asked. “I haven’t tried to feed you or anything, so you must be starving, I can --”

“I’m fine.” Rumplestiltskin assured her briefly, looking down as well. This was so awkward, he almost… wished he hadn’t woken up. Almost. But there was the matter of Belle, so he couldn’t quite wish that. “Thank you though.” He murmured. “Are you hungry?” He asked, raising his eyebrow.

“No, I don’t think I could eat….” Belle bit her lip.

“Alright, then.” Rumple continued to look down at his hands. There were so many things to say that he said nothing at all. Until… “Should I let you leave? I’m sure there are more important things you’d like to be doing.”

“No that’s… it’s fine.” Belle assured him quickly, too quickly. She looked up at him, and for a moment their eyes met. He swallowed heavily, feeling the awkward in the room.

“Alright, then.” Rumple repeated quietly. “Belle, I just-” He started, hesitant and unsure and Belle very much wished she could kiss that expression off his face.

“Yes?” Belle said instead, not daring to bridge that distance yet.

“I don’t hold you to what you said. When I was- when it happened.” Rumple swallowed again, feeling her gaze on him. “I don’t want you to stay out of obligation. You owe me nothing.”

“You’re my husband.” Belle retorted. “I- I know you wouldn’t make me stay where I didn’t want to be. You’ll just have to respect that I want to be here. Unless you would rather I go?” She bit her lip.

Rumplestiltskin very much wished he could kiss that off her face. The uncertainty did not belong there. “I don’t want you not here.” He stalled.

Belle relaxed slightly at that. He continued. “I don’t think I deserve that title, though, sweetheart. Erm, Belle.”

“You let me decide that.” Belle murmured, looking away from him for a second before squaring her shoulders. “No one decides my fate but me.” She said softly, yet no less convinced of this fact.

“Of course. I’m sorry.” Rumple said immediately, nodding.

“I think we should talk. Not here. Can we go to the cabin?” Belle asked hesitantly, looking down again. Gods, this was so awkward. It was awful.

“If you like.” Rumplestiltskin managed, when it became clear that Belle was not demanding, but asking this of him. 

“I’ll go… get the car ready.” Belle nodded, pulling away and smiling hesitantly at him before she went to go do just that.

one awkward car trip later 

The trip to the cabin had been awkward and silent. Rumplestiltskin still wasn’t sure what Belle wanted to talk about. Hadn’t she made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with him? But then she hadn’t let him die alone, and she didn’t love Will, and Rumplestiltskin was just really confused now.

“Do you want my ah, help?” Rumplestiltskin offered as Belle began to take the luggage inside.

“No, no it’s fine. You go sit on the couch. You’re out of practice carrying luggage.” She gave him a small, playful smirk and Rumple felt like his insides were glowing with her warmth.

“I’ll see you in a moment then.” Rumplestiltskin nodded, and waited for Belle’s small wave of dismissal before he went into the cabin, humming a soft tune in his head as he went.

The cabin looked the same as it always did. Wood logs scattered around the fireplace, a rug on the floor that Rumplestiltskin had to practice not blushing when he saw. Perhaps if Rumplestiltskin burned the rug, he would be able to stand this.

Why had Belle wanted him here, anyway? HIs heart was pounding with his ignorance, and he couldn’t shake the fear that she brought him here to break his heart all over again. Though this was Belle, he couldn’t shake it. He knew Belle, and yet… It was as he’d told Belle at the town line. He was afraid.

After a few more minutes of agonizing wait, Belle made her way over to sit beside him on the couch. “Hey. How are you feeling?” She asked softly, her hands flitting around in her lap like they didn’t belong there. Rumplestiltskin could only guess where she wanted to put them.

“I’m fine,” Rumplestiltskin assured her. She gave him a Look, which made him sigh. “My body feels weaker than when I was the coward. But I’ll be fine after a while.” He grudgingly told her. He didn’t like thinking of those days.

“You were never the coward, Rumple.” Belle retorted, almost as if it had been muscle memory. Perhaps it had. “You’ve made cowardly choices, sure, but you - you’re not cowardly yourself.” She said firmly.

“.......Alright.” Rumplestiltskin murmured, disquieted by her reaction. He took a deep breath. He had to be brave now. “You said you wanted to talk?” 

“Oh, um… Yes.” Belle nodded, looking suddenly nervous. “We have to talk if we’re going to move forward.” She leaned back on the couch, watching as a hundred different emotions washed over Rumplestiltskin’s face.

“Move forward? I don’t understand, Belle.” Rumple’s brow furrowed, staring at her with the final emotion that had crossed his face - hope.

“I’ve lived with you, and I’ve lived without you. I know which I prefer.” Belle said quietly, looking at him. “Tell me that I’m wrong to feel that, tell me I’ve ruined everything…. But I know what I want now.”

“What is it you want?” Rumplestiltskin swallowed thickly, his eyes fraught as he stared at Belle.

“I don’t need to see the world to know what I want anymore. What I want… is to be with you.” Belle whispered. “And I know I’ve made an absolute mess of that, especially lately, but it’s true. You shouldn’t have done a lot of things that you did, but I’m just as much to blame.”

Rumplestiltskin’s jaw dropped a little, his eyes opening wider than he’d thought possible. “You did what you thought you had to. I drove you to it.” Rumplestiltskin shook his head, knowing in his heart that Belle would never accept for him to take all of the blame. Still, it was ingrained him. He had to try to ease her load.

“Why did you do it?” Belle asked quietly, her hands finally giving up the battle and lacing themselves within Rumplestiltskin’s own hands. “Why did you lie?”

“I … I thought that I had to.” Rumplestiltskin looked down at their hands in wonder, his eyes filling with tears. “I couldn’t tell you everything that happened. You’d hate me. So I lied, and now…”

Belle let go of one of his hands, reaching up to cup his face with her own hand, shaking though it was. Squeezing his other hand, she whispered, “I could never hate you. I didn’t when I kicked you out. And I don’t now.” She told him gently. “So tell me now… what couldn’t you tell me then?” she suggested quietly, uncertainly.

Rumplestiltskin shut his eyes tightly, reveling in the touches that he’d thought were long gone. His eyes opened hesitantly after a moment, and he saw the concern in Belle’s face. He began to shake, but he had to tell her. “I… I lost it.” He mumbled. “After Bae’s… After Bae.”

He instantly regretted his words when Belle’s face crumbled. “Why didn’t you tell me?” She whispered roughly, squeezing his hand and stroking his cheek at the same time. “I loved him too, Rumple.” She reminded him quietly. Somehow that made him feel better, and though a dam was breaking inside him, he held her tighter.

“I promised Bae I’d avenge him.” Rumple murmured, burying his face in her hair. “I didn’t know what else to do besides kill her.” His lower lip wobbled. “I thought I was doing right, but all I did was lose you.” He felt her squeeze his waist. “And that couldn’t be right. That wasn’t right.”

“Oh Rum…” Belle whispered, stroking his back as he began to cry. “You haven’t lost me now.” she continued in a whisper, as if he were an animal that could be spooked any moment. In a way, he was. Frightened and unsure of his place in the world. Well, Belle would fix that. His place was with her.

“I haven’t?” His voice was small.

“As long as you’re honest with me, I can’t imagine leaving your side.” Belle answered quietly, honestly.

“Then I’ll be honest. I’ll do whatever you want, Belle.” Rumplestiltskin rashly promised. Belle smiled against the top of his head.

“Don’t be so quick. I want the truth, Rum. Even if it hurts. Alright?” Belle asked gently, kissing his hair. She was beginning to wish she did not need to resist the lure of his lips. Then it dawned on her, why should she have to resist?

“Even if it hurts.” Rumple nodded his agreement, tipping his head back to look at her. “I’ll do as you wish.” There was a hopeful look in his eyes now, one that Belle very much liked. She smiled, leaning in slowly.

He leaned in as well, and slowly - as slow and unsure as their first, disastrous kiss in the Enchanted Forest - they kissed. She could taste the tears on his lips, but she only crawled closer.

His arms wrapped around her waist, fluttering up and down her back, and Belle smiled brilliantly against his lips until she had ruined the kiss, smiling too widely to make anything of it. “Sorry,” she chuckled, pulling away.

“I like your smile.” Rumple assured her. “Especially uh, when I’m the one who caused it.” He told her softly.

“You usually are,” Belle responded with a soft wink, pressing another kiss to his lips before burying her face in his neck.

Happily Ever After had never seemed so close.

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas, Kat! Hope you had a lovely day. <3


End file.
